Please note that there is quite a long waiting list for this event. Please accept our apologies in advance if those on the waiting list are unable to get in. We will endeavour to run these talks again in recognition of the level of interest

In this special SciBar, which is part of the British Science Week and Cambridge Science Festival, we will have two speakers talking about the science of sleep, dreams, and consciousness.

Dr Valdas Noreika, from the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, will talk about “Jumping in Dreams While Being Paralysed in Bed: The Science of Sleep and Dreaming”. Every night our minds go through complex cycles of changing perception, ranging from dreamless sleep to intense nightmares and, if we are lucky, lucid dreams. Recently, these extraordinary experiences, as well as their clinical manifestations, have been linked to specific changes of the brain activity during sleep.

Dr Anat Arzi, from the Cambridge Consciousness and Cognition lab, will talk about “The unique interaction between sleep, learning and olfaction”. Even when we sleep our brain keeps on being active, processing information from the environment, and consolidating memories. But can we learn new information in sleep? and how is it all related to our sense of smell?